Aircraft
Owner / Operator Advantage
One of the many advantages to being an owner / operator in this field is the ability to custom outfit your aircraft the way you want to. Here at Oracle we have gone ahead and done just that. Gone are days of of having an operator stuck in the back or a co-pilot acting like an operator but generally treating the equipment in the back as cargo, giving it only a cursory glance every so often during the flight. We have elected instead to have a fully dedicated operator up front where he can act as a second set of eyes for the captain but at the same time have all data acquisition resources at his fingertips. We have installed all data acquisition and navigation displays into the dash of our PA-31 Piper Navajo Aircraft.
Dedicated Survey Aircraft
Many other survey companies who simply lease their aircraft from aircraft charter companies do a very quick installation with little regard for a magnetically clean finished platform. It is in both companies best interest to simply get the aircraft out "mowing the lawn" resulting in billable hours for the aircraft owner and billable kilometers for the survey company. Often this can result in less time ensuring a quiet FOM has been flown and more importantly that the FOM does not drift during the course of the survey destroying the integrity of the data in the process.
Attention to Detail
We have painstakingly gone though our dedicated survey aircraft to have it "magnetically cleaned" by removing magnetic components located near the rear and wing areas of the aircraft. These have been replaced with non magnetic parts underthe direction of a DAR (Transport Canada licensed design approval representative). We have paid particular attention to parts that move within close proximity to the magnetometers such as control surfaces (rudder, aileron) cables, rods rivets etc. Special coating have been applied to the stinger and sensor pods to eliminate the effect of static discharge on the instruments. Oracle has gone the extra step to include a total field installation that has a 30% greater sensor / control surface ratio than any other Navajo Platform in operation today.
Special insulation membranes have been installed to insure that heat generated within the aircraft stays where it's needed (close to the crew and equipment) and not wasted through the rest of the cabin. This makes form a safer working environment and less equipment failure in the winter operating months. These same membranes act to keep things cool during the summer season.